Wedge



(No Model.)

W. 1. HARMON.

WEDGE. No. 542,559. Patented July. 9, 1895.

/NVENTO/? may? m WITNESSES:

A TTOHNE YS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM I. HARMON, OF MOUNT VERNON, XVASHINGTON.

WEDGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 542,559, dated July 9, 1895. Application filed Ap il 3, 1895. Serial No. 544,311. (No model.)

,description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in that class of wedges which are designed for use by timberinen and others for felling and splitting timbers; and the object of the invention is to provide a wedge of a simple, inexpensive, and durable construction, which shall present certain features of novelty and advantage for use over other similar devices heretofore employed, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The novel features of the invention will be carefully defined in the claim.

In order that myinvention may the better be understood, I have illustrated in the accom panyi'ng drawings a wedge embodying my improvements.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forminga part of this specification, inwhich similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the wedge. Fig. 2 is a vertical axial section of the same in the plane indicated by the line 2 2 in Fig. 3, and Fig. 3 is a transverse section in the plane indicated by the line 3 3 in Fig. 2.

In the drawings, represents the body of the wedge, which is formed of hard wood, having at its lower end the ordinary wedge shape, and having its opposite sides inclined or beveled at angles to one another, and adapted to fit snugly within the frame 11, formed of malleable iron and having opposite side portions 12 inclined at angles to one another to correspond to the opposite inclined sides of the body 10. At its upper end the body 10 is formed with a reduced rounded portion 13, forming a head whereon is shrunk or otherwise secured an iron ring or band 14, serving to prevent said head from splitting under the impact ofa blow. The opposite side portions 12 of the frame 11 extend up along the inclined faces or sides of the body 10 to the rounded reduced head 13 of the body, and are connected at or near their up-- per ends by integral straps 15 extending across the space between said portions 12, as clearly seen in Figs. 1 and 3. At the lower part of the frame 11 the sides thereof, between said portions 12, are closed, as indicated at 16, and between the closed lower side portions of the frame and the straps 15 said sides are open to expose the wood. The opposite sides of the frame and body, between the inclined or beveled wedge-surfaces thereof, are rounded, as indicated in Fig. 3.

The wedge constructed as above described is exceedingly simple, light, and inexpensive, and is better adapted for the purpose for which it is designed than wedges formed of solid steel or iron. Being provided with. a rounded head there is no liability of the head of the wedgebeing flattened and enlarged, as is the case with metal wedges, and the head being inclosed in the band 14: there is no liability of its becoming split, as is the case with wooden wedges.

The construction of the body of the wedge of wood and the frame of iron, renders the wedge exceedingly light, and at the same time sufficiently strong for all ordinary uses.

The frame of the wedge being constructed of metal and being open at the sides permits.

the wooden body to expand freely at said open sides when a blow is delivered on the head of a metal frame, said body having opposite bevbeveled sides of the body, said frame having its sides between said beveled side portions thereof open to permit the expansion of the wooden body laterally in the frame, and straps formed integrally with the beveled side portions of the frame at the upper parts thereof, said straps being arranged to extend across the open sides of the frame to tie the beveled side portions thereof together at their upper parts, substantially as set forth.

WILLIAM I. HARMON. Witnesses:

JOHN Z. NELSON, WM. WALTERS. 

